Yu and Ai
by lifethatyouhate
Summary: A collection of related oneshots based on Yu and Ai's budding relationship with each other and friendships with the others in Animal Town.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Animal Crossing: Wild World, or Ai and Yu, who were from the Animal Crossing movie.

Note: Okay, so, Ai and Yu are characters from this Animal Crossing movie. I saw the first two parts or so on youtube and they were dubbed, so I haven't seen the ending or anything. If you haven't seen part of it, let me explain: Ai moves to the town, and Yu is a boy who lives in a nearby town but spends most of his time in hers. So if you haven't seen it, trust me, you're not missing out on anything or whatever, and just treat Ai and Yu as if they are two made up characters and the story will progress much the same. If you have seen the movie, I'm sorry I'm not following it very much, it's just that I haven't seen it all and am probably not going to get a chance to. Thanks for reading. :)

"_What _are you wearing?"

Ai self-consciously lifted up her shirt to check on it. It was one of Margie's prized designs, with a beautiful purple print down the front. She looked over at the boy before her, frowning. He was dressed like a pirate- _again_. "I could ask _you_ the same thing, you know!"

"No, not that!" Yu snapped. He could be very irritable at times- after spending a year with him in Animal Town, Ai had grown to learn that. Especially if he wasn't getting his way, or the answer he was looking for. "That…that…that _thing _on your head."

The petite girl hesitated. She was often switching through different hats and headdresses, so why should this new one get any attention? _He _was the one wearing a pirate's hat, anyways. She felt on top of her head and felt the familiar lace and said, "Oh, the veil. What about it?"

"What, are you getting…are you getting _married _or something?" The word _married _sounded like he might as well be cursing, the way he put it.

Ai frowned at first and then found herself laughing. "Uh, no! I'm only a couple months from seventeen, and it's not like there's many marriage candidates around here, you know. They're all kind of…not the same species as me."

When she had come to Animal Town, she was still fifteen. Now, she was almost seventeen. Time had flown, and time had turned her into a braver, more cheerful person. The move to Animal Town had been very good for her.

"Then why are you _wearing _it?" Yu asked, obviously having ignored everything she had just said. She was used to that as well. Despite him being the only human from miles around, sometimes she felt like she could relate to him the least of all. While she found herself growing up and getting more mature, he was still dressing up and pretending to be everyone but himself.

"Because Whitney gave it to me, Yu," she told him, sighing. "I thought it was cute and I'm always trying on the different accessories she gave me. Why are you here, anyways? You don't even live in this town and the flea market is today. Didn't you want to visit your villagers?"

Yu looked pretty embarrassed- apparently his over reaction had finally hit him. "Well, it's a _wedding _veil, it's not like you can blame me!" he retorted angrily before tacking on, "And I came to hang out with my best friend _Alfonso_, for your information."

He went to stride past her but Ai caught him. "Who did you think I was going to marry, Yu?"

The boy turned and caught her vindictive little smile and his cheeks reddened instantly. "Oh, shut up, Ai. I don't care if you get married or not!"

"Oh really?" she asked him, continuing on with her smile until he groaned, letting her know that she had won.

"Okay, okay, _fine_ Ai. I thought maybe you met some guy who came to visit over here or something. So what? It doesn't matter. Nobody comes to visit over here anyways. And it's better like that. Just us and our friends, and my other friends in my town. It's not like we need anything else."

Ai watched him for a moment and thought about all the other things she had grown to want. Romance, that was the biggest. More communication with humans. And she wanted something _big_, something so much more than she had. Yu, on the other hand, was content to play Peter Pan for the rest of his life.

"There is so much more that we need, Yu," she whispered.

He puffed out his chest and shook his head. "No there's not! We have everything here, Ai! We have everything we could have ever wanted! You always try to ruin things!"

Yu jabbed his toy sword at her, purposefully missing her, but only by an inch. In response, Ai yanked the sword from his hand and threw it to the floor. "You're turning seventeen next week, Yu. It's time you acted like it!" she snapped, and then turned and headed over to Margie's house.

As no surprise to her, the elephant was drawing furiously in the corner of her elegant home. Her designs were tacked all over the walls- something the pair had done together. Marge smiled and set aside her work when she noticed she had a visitor, and as no surprise to her found the girl fuming, as she often did after a confrontation with Yu.

"What's the matter, tootie? Did you talk to Yu again?"

Ai sighed when she realized how often it was that she came in, upset over Yu, and had to have Margie talk her down. "He just…he won't grow up, Margie. It's so…frustrating. I wish he would just dress his age, act his age, and just admit that he…that he…"

She gave up and collapsed into a chair next to he friend. "I'm sorry, Margie. I always come in here complaining. How's your designing going?"

The elephant waved away the words. "Oh, don't worry about it, Ai. This is important to you. But…maybe you should give Yu some credit. Everyone matures at different rates. Maybe he's just not ready to admit that he's almost seventeen- and that his feelings for someone else are very _seventeen _too, don't you think?"

Ai's cheeks flushed as her friend passed her the sketchpad on the table beside her. "I wonder what would happen if he did," she mumbled, and then her eyes widened as she looked down at the beautiful dress. It shouldn't have come as such a shock to find such amazing talent on the paper, but it always did. "This is gorgeous, Margie! You're going to be as famous as Mable and Sable one day. As famous as Gracie!"

Margie blushed as well. "I hope so…but it's not even finished yet, tootie," she giggled, taking the sketchpad back. "I better get to work. And Ai, about Yu- don't worry too much. Give him some credit, and he'll do the same for you."

The girl got to her feet and smiled at her rather large friend. "Thanks Margie. Good luck on your new design!"

"Thank you, Ai," Margie called after her, and Ai exited the house and took a deep breath.

_I better apologize_, she sighed once again. It wasn't Yu's fault that he was taking a little longer to grow up than she was. Plus, throwing his sword _might _have gone a tad bit overboard.

Luckily, she didn't have to look very far for him. She could hear Alfonso shouting, "Look at me, it's a me!" If Yu wasn't with her, than he was sure to be with his lazy friend.

She hesitated before showing herself to them, cowering behind a clump of trees as she watched Alfonso prance around with a fossil.

"That's an ammonite! Wow, that's amazing, Alfonso! I've gotta show this to...nobody…" Ai watched as Yu hung his head, jamming his shovel hard into the dirt and looking, for just a moment, much older.

Alfonso seemed to see this too, as he very cautiously approached his friend. "Do you want me to go find Ai? You've been spending a lot of time with her lately and-,"

"No!" Yu demanded. "Go turn it into the museum. I've gotta do something."

The alligator shrugged and backed away. "Well, suit yourself…see you later, it's a me."

Ai wanted to comfort the boy she watched sulking, but she wasn't sure how he would react to it. She could just imagine him shaking her off and declaring her to have 'cooties,' or something immature like that. In fact, she _expected _that reaction.

But Yu was her friend, and he looked miserable, his toy sword lying on the floor next to him, slightly bent. She came out from behind the trees and approached his turned back, gently setting her hand on his shoulder. "Yu…I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pressed you like that. And I'm…I'm really sorry about your toy sword, too."

He jumped at her touch at first, but surprised her by relaxing and leaving her hand there. "It's okay, Ai. I'm sorry, too. Sorry I'm not…" he drifted off, not letting her know exactly what it was he wasn't.

"You don't have to be anything you don't want to be…or, aren't ready to be," she murmured quietly, and watched shock cross his face first before acceptance. He continued to hang his head, nodding once.

After a few more moments he straightened up and gave her a smile. "You missed it! Me and Alfonso found this _perfect _ammonite. Come on, if we hurry we can catch up to him- besides, he's probably waiting somewhere on the way, eating or something…"

He seized Ai's hand and began to pull her through the trees, rushing after his friend.

Ai merely let him. Maybe she was already grown up, but he was going to take some more time.

Author's Note: I'm not sure why I'm writing about these two…I just love their little innocent relationship at the beginning. Sorry to those of you who have seen the movie and think they shouldn't be around seventeen or whatever, but I feel like it just helps the story progress. I'm going to be adding on more oneshots soon, so stay tuned. Hopefully you liked this one! Thanks for reading! (:


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Animal Crossing: Wild World, or Ai and Yu, who were from the Animal Crossing movie.

"Fireflies are my favorite!" Rosie cooed next to Ai, who just laughed. "Aren't they beautiful? Don't they just light up the whole sky?"

"They are rather gorgeous," Margie said softly, sketching as usual. "I think I can incorporate the radiance of the fireflies into one of my designs. I wonder how that would look…"

The cat turned to the elephant- what an unlikely pair- and squealed. "Now _that _would be gorgeous, silly! Don't you think so, Ai?" she watched her friend carefully, and in turn her friend watched the fireflies, mesmerized. "Ai?"

The girl observed every movement of one particular firefly from the bunch. She wasn't sure why, but it's like was flickering on and off- or so it seemed, at least. Ai was amazed at how much longing she felt towards the other fireflies, who shone so beautifully and could go wherever they pleased, and how much empathy she felt towards the lone firefly that tried so desperately to blend in when it so clearly couldn't.

"It's just…the fireflies…they're so…"

"Gotcha!" a familiar voice shouted, and a net swooped down and over the lone firefly, which was soon after bottled up in a jar.

Ai gaped at Yu, who was already doing a celebratory dance with Alfonso. "We did it, it's a me!" the alligator was cheering, spinning around and around the boy, who was waving the jar in the air until he actually _looked _at the firefly in it.

"It's defective!" he whined. "Look, it won't light up all the way! Ai, will you help me get a new one?"

"No!" the girl said so forcefully that everyone turned and looked at her. "I…I can't believe you, Yu!"

She stormed off, leaving the boy alone with his jar, stunned. "But…" he called after her.

Ai wouldn't have any of it. She kept on going, over the bridge, past a whole other swarm of- of course- perfect fireflies and into her house, where she slammed the door behind her and pulled out a piece of paper from her drawer.

_ Dear Mom_, she began, wiping a tear from her eye.

_I miss you so much sometimes- like now. I miss home. I miss your cherry pies and Dad's silly jokes, and I miss watching the fireflies with you guys when I was little. There are cherry pies here too, but they're not yours. Lots of people tell jokes, but they're nothing like dad's. And there are fireflies here too…but people aren't content to just watch them. They have to catch them, too._

_ I wish I could come visit, but I can't. I'm going to attach some of the cherries from here- hopefully they stay fresh all the way back home so you can make a cherry pie for you and dad._

_Lots of Love,_

_Ai_

The next day, Ai went out and headed over to the notice board first. _Alfonso's birthday is coming up,_ she noted, and then skipped past the familiar _talking to myself_ that was scrawled at the top of the next notice. _A bug competition. No doubt Yu will enter himself and that poor firefly…_

"Hey Ai," the boy's cheerful voice sounded.

_Speak of the devil_, she huffed to herself as she turned around and folded her arms. "What?" she asked him.

"Are you still mad at me for the firefly thing?" the boy sighed. "Look, Margie and Rosie told me about how you were watching it…I'm sorry if you wanted to catch it for yourself. Here, I saved it for you. I want you to have it."

Ai looked at the tiny thing, it's flickering light barely visible with the sun's rays on them, and gasped. "I don't want it, Yu! I don't want to keep one in my house as some sort of decoration! Sometimes I don't think you know anything about me at all," she said the last part so quietly that she wouldn't have been able to tell if he had heard it had his jaw not dropped so low.

With that she headed into the post office, delivering her letter to her mother and hoping that it would reach her soon. She was often caught off guard with just how much she missed her family.

When she was outside again, it was only to discover that Yu was long gone. She couldn't even hear Alfonso's shouting in the distance. _Maybe he went back to his own town for once_, she wondered to herself. He spent nearly all of his time in her's; she wondered if maybe his was just waiting for him, falling to pieces without him…

_Probably not_, she thought to herself. _The world doesn't need _him_ to keep it stable_.

However, she was beginning to wonder if _she _did.

The sun was setting when she finally returned to her home, after long visits with Rosie and Margie. In the back of her mind, she wondered if she had hurt Yu's feelings again, and she wondered whose turn it was to apologize- and at the same time, she pleaded with herself to get rid of the thoughts of that boy and try to continue on as she always did.

The familiar sounds of K.K. Slider welcomed her into her home, playing- as always- on her little boombox, but there was another, much more familiar sound as well.

Fireflies sitting in jars were all around her room, lighting it up so bright she would have thought the light switch was on. Standing in the front of all of the creatures was a smiling Yu, who was holding the 'defective' one in his hands.

"Yu, when I said I didn't want to keep _one _in my house, I didn't mean-,"

"No, no!" he interrupted quickly, handing the firefly to her. "They're not to keep. They're to release. These are all the fireflies I've caught and others have caught, and the extras that were in the museum- they only need one, after all. And they're all here to be released, by me and you."

A smile lit Ai's face as she set the firefly down next to her and flung her arms around Yu's neck.

"Yu, this is the nicest thing you've ever done for me!" she squealed. She wasn't surprised that Yu didn't return the hug, but she was a little stunned that he blushed and didn't push her away.

"Well…I wasn't thinking about how you felt when I caught this one. I should have..." he sounded like he was having a real hard time getting the words out, making Ai smile even more. "I should have…putyourfeelingsfirst."

"Excuse me?" she asked, pulling away with one eyebrow lifted.

He rolled his eyes. "I'm only going to say it one more time Ai…I should have put your feelings first. Happy?"

"Yes. Very," she told him, grinning as she picked her little firefly up again. "This one first, okay? Help me with the lid."

They both set their hands on top of the lid, and after a moment where it seemed like the poor thing might be stuck in there, it unscrewed and then the pair easily pulled it off, dropping the jar in shock and watching as the firefly managed to zoom out and light up the darkening sky before her doorway.

They turned to each other with a smile, and that was how every firefly was released for the rest of the night- by which time all of the villagers had come by to see the show.

"It's amazing, Yu," Ai whispered when they were all free from their prisons, flitting around in the night sky.

"They look a lot better like this then they do cooped up in those jars," Yu mumbled solemnly, and for one little hopeful moment, Ai thought that perhaps he had finally began to felt that longing for something _more _that she had been dealing with for so long…

And then Alfonso swooped in, dancing about with the fireflies. "This is great, it's a me!"

Yu joined him, cupping his hands gently around each one to observe it before moving along, doing a dance on the way. Ai merely watched him and the fireflies, leaning against the doorframe, a small smile on her face. Something more could wait.

Author's Note: Thanks to the lone reviewer of the last piece. :p I appreciate it a lot. And thanks to everyone who read this, checked it out, whatever. I also appreciate that just as much. Thank you guys for reading, hope you liked it! :D


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